


Project Icarus

by Blinky_Winky_Nod



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: Bird/Human Hybrids, Gen, Human Experimentation, Inspired by Maximum Ride, Maximum Ride Rewrite, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Wings, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-05-16 13:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19319395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blinky_Winky_Nod/pseuds/Blinky_Winky_Nod
Summary: Six winged children have lived their lives inside the School, isolated from the rest of the world. They have conditioned from birth to believe the testing and training they must undergo are normal. But when a strange boy from the outside world is brought to live with them, they become curious as to what's really out there.[Another Maximum Ride rewrite. Yeah, I know the summary kinda sucks. I'll fix it once I'm further into the fic.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this fic six months ago with an entirely different premise and plot. In the past two months, I've worked it down to this. I feel pretty confident about it though, so here we go! This chapter's pretty short because it's more of a prologue to the actual story. The other chapters will be longer, I promise.

Ash had always wanted to use the escape plan. Ever since his mother first sat him down when he was barely old enough to walk on his own and balance his wings at the same time. The idea of sneaking out his bedroom window and taking off into the skies to run away from whatever bad guys were trying to get him was so cool. It would be like a movie, but in real life, with real bad guys and real chase scenes and real laser guns (probably).

But today was the day they finally had to use it for real. His mother had woken him up in the middle of the night and told him he needed to get out. At first, Ash had been excited. A little nervous, but excited. He’d climbed out of his window and flown out, gliding through the air towards the safehouse they’d set up. But someone must have noticed him, because someone had shot something at him, and he’d stumbled and fallen out of the air. With nowhere else to go, he’d just started running. 

Now all of the excitement Ash felt was replaced with fear. Fear, and lots and lots of pain. His legs ached with every single step, and he had to avoid screaming as sharp rocks and thorns lodged in his feet. He wanted to stop. He just wanted to fall over on the ground and cry, hoping his mother would find him later and take him back home, where she’d cuddle up with him on the couch and they’d watch movies and eat ice cream like they had on his 10th birthday last week.

Three people were chasing him, and they were all kids too. Probably more experiments from the School, like Ash was. He wondered why they hadn’t escaped yet. If it was such a terrible place like his mom and his uncles said, then why would they want to stay there? He couldn’t remember much of his own life there; he was just a baby when he was taken out. But he could still faintly recall a vague slideshow of memories: dark hallways contrasted with bright operating theaters that sometimes came to him in nightmares, always accompanied by a deep cutting feeling of terror in his chest.

A hand clawed at one of Ash’s wings, and he snapped himself back into the present. He forced himself to sprint faster, trying to channel every ounce of strength the daily hikes with his mother were supposed to give him. But even with all that, he could barely keep ahead of his pursuers.

He knew part of the problem was his pyrokinesis. Every time he got super excited or angry or scared, like right now, he’d accidentally create fire around his hands. It was something that made him different, and yet another reason he had to live away from the rest of the world. _Another reason the School wants me so badly._ But even with all that, the biggest downside was that every time he used his powers to start a fire, it took up a ton of energy, regardless of whether or not it was on purpose. 

And when you’re running away from evil people that want to lock you up in a dark and scary lab so they can strap you down and dissect you until there’s nothing left, you kinda want all the energy you can get. 

_Keep going! You’re almost there!_ Ash repeated over and over again in his head. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was, but he knew he was getting closer to a cliff. There were plenty of drop-offs like that on the mountain where he lived, and they were excellent takeoff points. He’d even used a few of them for flying practice before. 

As the cliff grew closer and closer, the trees started to thin out. Ash grinned as he adjusted his wings, readying for the fall. Every other muscle in his body was screaming to stop. _C’mon...I’m almost there…_

Ash leapt out of the forest, arms scraping against thorny branches. He squeezed his eyes shut, running only a few steps more before the ground disappeared from under him. His stomach rose to his chest. Air whizzed past his ears. One of the kids shouted from above him.

_Now!_

A pair of sandy brown wings unfurled from Ash’s back into the air, sending him skyrocketing upwards. Stinging pain shot through his back, but he shook it off and tilted his wings upwards, flying higher in the air. The wind ruffled his feathers, and he couldn’t help but giggle. Even in the face of danger, flying never stopped being fun. 

The kids that had been chasing him for so long skid to a halt at the cliff’s edge. Ash smirked down at them. _What are you going to do now, huh?!_ He couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself. He even did a feel loops in the air and cheered, rubbing in his victory. 

One of them - a girl with long red hair - took a step forward. She leaned down, looking over the chasm below, and without any hesitation she let herself fall in. Large, dark grey wings sprung out of her back, speckled with gold and white spots. She rose upward, now perfectly aligned with Ash.

_Oh no…_

Why hadn’t he thought of that? Why hadn’t he considered that the other kids at the School might have wings like him? Well, it didn’t matter now, because she was flying at him head-on, with the other two kids taking off down below. Ash knew he had to think fast. 

But with all his focus on thinking instead of flying, he started to fall instead. 

Ash flailed his arms about, flapping his wings with all his strength. At the very least, his wings made it hard to fall fast, so he had a bit more time. But that also meant that all three of the kids were coming at him much quicker. 

It was only seconds before he would hit the ground, and Ash had no more energy left in him. Everything hurt all over. His hands weren’t even burning anymore. All he could feel was hot tears stinging in his eyes. _I’m gonna die..._

Then a pair of arms wrapped around him, and everything got very, very cold.


	2. Chapter 2

Delta stared up at the ceiling as the familiar wake-up alarm sounded over the speakers. It wasn’t as if she was sleeping in the first place; she’d only gotten back to the dorms an hour ago. She rolled over on her side, glaring at the wall in front of her as she tried to block out the grating chimes with her pillow. 

_Another day, another test. They won’t even let us take breaks after our first real mission._

There was nothing she could do about it, though. Ignoring the bell was against the rules, and Delta really didn't want to deal with a lecture. She reluctantly pulled herself off the bed, shaking her wings out and giving them a good stretch. Light from the nearby window caught on the brown and white feathers. Minus a few scrape marks from tree branches, they looked almost untouched after the previous night.

Delta tucked her wings in the sluggishly walked out the door (there wasn’t any reason to get changed - she hadn’t changed out of the day clothes she’d worn the night earlier). The hallways were blindingly bright, as always. Almost every floor in the School was covered in the same glossy white tiling. _Whoever did the interior designing and thought “Yes, the surface that reflects light the most should be placed underneath all of the giant fluorescent light bulbs” should be fired._

She descended the stairs quickly, barely squeezing her wings through the tight door frame on her right and walked down the hallway. The twisted scent of breakfast food mixed with chemical spray filled her nostrils almost immediately; a smell she was used to, but still hated. She pinched her nose and began walking faster, making a few more turns before entering the cafeteria. 

To her surprise, it wasn’t completely empty. Beta and Phi sat at one of the tables, already dressed and eating. Beta looked up in surprise. “Delta? I thought you guys weren’t gonna be back until later today.”

“I guess we finished early.” Delta shrugged. She grabbed her breakfast rations off the countertop and sat down across from them. “What are you two doing up?”

“Phi had nightmares again.” Beta wrapped one of his wings around the boy in question, who shrunk down into his seat. 

Delta's brow furrowed. "They unlocked the doors for you?"

Beta shook his head, causing the thin strands of brown hair he'd missed when doing his ponytail to waver back and forth. "No, we just got dressed and waited, since it was already so close to breakfast. What time did you guys get back, anyways?"

"3 AM, I think. I dunno. It was really fu- freaking dark." Delta caught herself before swearing, remembering Phi was still there. "I didn't even get to sleep. I had to go get a checkup." She waggled her bandaged fingers. 

The older boy's brow furrowed with concern, and he leaned forward to examine her hands. “Here, lemme see. Does it hurt bad? What happened?”

“Nothing. It's nothing. I'm fine.” Delta pulled back sharply. She hoped he hadn’t noticed the ice burns around her fingers, just barely concealed by the bandages. 

Before Beta could protest, the cafeteria door opened again, and Rho’s curly blonde head poked through. “Morning, everyone!” She merrily chirped as she skipped inside. Alpha walked in after her, arms folded. She said a quick "good morning" as she took her rations and sat down alongside everyone else.

“3...4...5…” Beta muttered as he counted everyone off. “We’re missing Omega.”

Rho frowned. “I didn’t see him.”

“He’s probably hiding somewhere again.” Alpha rolled her eyes. "Just ignore it. He'll get punished for it la-"

Phi suddenly gasped, jumping in his seat. His food rations hovered in the air for a moment, as if suspended by wires from the ceiling, before disappearing altogether. The sound of footsteps scurrying across the tile flooring echoed throughout the room, eventually stopping several feet away in a corner.

Alpha stood up, hands on her hips. “Alright, Omega. Funny joke. Come on out.”

No one answered. 

“Omega, I’m serious." She repeated. 

There was some muffled giggling in the corner, but nothing else.

Delta sighed and crossed her arms. “If you don’t come out I’ll freeze your wings off.”

The laughing got even louder, and he slowly began to become visible again. Omega was, like all the kids at the School, given a special ability aside from his wings when he was first created. His power happened to be invisibility, so of course he used it to drive everyone crazy every chance he got. The raven haired boy grinned as his body regained transparency. “Alright, alright. I’ll come out. You don’t have to be so threatening all the time.” 

“That’s right.” Alpha glared at Delta. “Threatening others with violence is strictly against the rules. You should apologize immediately."

"It was just a joke." Delta rolled her eyes. When Alpha continued to stare her down, she reluctantly grumbled an apology.

"Alrighty then!" Omega climbed up on the edge of the table, sitting down and swinging his legs, "Let's talk about last night."

Rho nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I wanted to hear about that! What did you guys do out there?"

Omega was about to speak again when Alpha cut him off. "Until the professors make an official announcement, we aren't allowed to talk about it." 

"Oh…" Rho's wings dropped. 

"Is it really so secret?" Beta asked. "I'm sure you at least let us know a little bit."

Alpha shook her head. "It's better not to take chances. You'll learn it soon enough, I'm sure."

The other children nodded, glumly returning to their breakfast. Delta scowled as she impaled a mini sausage with her fork. Alpha was the oldest, and the biggest rule-following suckup there ever was. She ruined pretty much every conversation she entered. _And I won't let her ruin this one._

After a few moments of disappointed silence, Delta cleared her throat, not looking up from her plate. "We found one of the missing kids."

Chaos quickly erupted in the tiny room. Alpha slammed her hands on the table and started angrily chastising Delta, but was quickly drowned out by Rho and Beta's excited questions - “what did it look like?” “what powers did it have?” “where was it hiding?” among others she couldn't fully hear. Phi stayed back, rubbing his ears - his telepathy had chosen the wrong time to activate - but his face was plastered in shock just like the rest of them. Omega nearly doubled over laughing, causing the table to shake. Delta couldn't help but smirk a little bit as the madness ensued.

"Everybody quiet!" Alpha snapped, slamming her hands on the table. Rho and Beta sat back down, going completely silent. Omega managed to calm down as well, but still muffled his laughter with his hands. Everyone else had their eyes on Alpha, waiting for her to do something. She drew in a long breath, staring down at the floor in thought, before walking over to the ‘office call’ button near the door and pressing it.

“How may I help?” The voice of another professor rang out from a nearby speaker. “Is everything alright?”

“I’d just like to let Professor Crabbe know that Delta disobeyed the order he gave us last night.” Alpha said, glare locked on the other girl from a distance. 

The voice paused for a moment, then spoke again. “I’ll let him know immediately. Thank you.” The speakers clicked off.

“Killjoy…" Delta muttered, rolling her eyes. She didn't care about whatever punishment she's get, so long as it wasn't detention. 

Alpha put her hands on her hips. "You knew it was against the rules, Delta. I'm just reporting it like I should." 

Delta was about to object when Beta interrupted. "Alright, alright. Let's not argue about this. It probably doesn't even matter, right?"

"Yeah!" Rho nodded eagerly. "And since we know it all now, can you tell us about it? Pleeeease?" She begged.

"Absolutely not." Alpha said, sitting back down at the table.

Phi raised his hand a little bit. “U-Um...excuse me. What are you guys talking about? What do you mean ‘missing kids’?” 

“Oh right, you were too young to remember.” Beta said. “Well, ten years ago, two bird kids were stolen from the School. They were just babies at the time, but it was a big deal. There was a search for about a month, but eventually they gave up. I’m not sure why. Then, three years later, another kid disappeared. But this time, they didn’t even really try to look for it.”

“But...why not?” Phi asked.

“Who knows.” Delta muttered. It had always bugged her, that the professors wouldn’t look for the missing kids. They were part of their flock after all. Plus the professors had spent the past year lecturing them about the horrors of the outside world and that no matter what, they were never to leave the School's protective gates unless they were on an assigned mission. But if they were so concerned about the normal wingless people seeing them, then why didn’t they care about the three very much winged children out of their reach?

She wanted to ask them why, but she knew she couldn’t. If they saw she was even a little soft with the younger kids, they'd probably keep her from getting any missions in the future. That's why Alpha was the flock's leader and top choice for special assignments by the professors, while Beta stayed behind as a babysitter. If Delta wanted to actually see the world outside the School walls, then she needed to act as tough as possible. 

“Let’s see…the missing kids were...” Beta started counting on his fingers. “Chi, Sigma, and...what was the other one? Silicon?”

“Epsilon.” Rho answered. “Silicon is an element, not a greek letter.” She may have only been eight years old, but she was just as smart as some of the older kids.

“Right, Epsilon. So, which one of them did you get?” Beta asked.

Omega was about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted by the cafeteria door sliding open. "Good morning, little fledglings." Everyone turned around as Professor Crabbe entered the room, smiling at them. 

“Good morning!” Rho chirped back. The others all chimed in with their own greetings. Delta grumbled her ‘hello’ and turned around to face the table, already dreading the conversation to come.

The professor chose to ignore her at first, spotting Omega sitting on the table. The boy quickly stood up, hurriedly sitting in a seat next to Phi and straightening up. “Sorry, sir.” he apologized. 

“Very good.” Crabbe walked across the room, hands clasped behind his back. He stopped in front of the table, looking down at each of the children. “So, Alpha, about the report you sent earlier.” 

“That’s right.” Alpha nodded. “Delta deliberately disobeyed the order you gave last night about keeping it a secret.”

“Ah. Well then, Delta, what do you have to say about all this?” He asked, now focusing on her specifically.

Delta slowly straightened up, pushing all the rebellious thoughts out of her mind. She needed to keep cool, especially right now, when she was under the lead professor’s dark gaze. “...That’s right.” She answered finally. 

“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed.” The professor pushed his glasses up against his face, brow still furrowed in frustration. “You’re one of the oldest, and you’re an example to the other children, whether you like it or not.”

“Yes sir. I’m sorry sir.” Delta repeated, her voice flat and hollow.

After a moment of consideration, Crabbe continued. “Well, it’s not exactly worthy of detention, but a suitable punishment is still in order. You’ll clean up the bathrooms instead of your usual break period with everyone else.”

Delta breathed a sigh of relief. No detention. That was good. She didn’t want to spend the entire day in a tiny isolated cell just because she felt like pissing someone off. 

“Um...professor?” Beta spoke up. “When do we get to see...y’know, the...missing kid?”

Professor Crabbe glanced over at the other children, scrutinizing them with a calm yet serious glare. He closed his eyes, letting out a long breath as he shook off the irritation, and smiled. “I suppose there's not much hiding it any more. Yes, we found one of the missing Project Icarus subjects. We’re still putting him through testing and orientation at the moment. But children,” his expression became serious again, “you need to know that he’s very rebellious. Even possibly dangerous. He's spent all his life believing in lies fed to him by traitors to our cause, and I don’t want you getting corrupted as well. So, I have a very special favor to ask you. Are you all listening?"

All six children nodded their heads, wings twitching in anticipation.

"Good. I want you all to help him readjust to the School. Spend time with him, treat him kindly, and try to become his friend. If we show him he's welcome here, he'll start cooperating with us. But never under any circumstances talk to him about the outside world. Got it? He'll just become misguided again. Just treat him as one of the flock and he'll do fine. That's all I ask.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” Alpha agreed, smiling for the first time that morning. “Right, everyone?”

Rho grinned and bobbed her head up and down. Phi shrunk away in his seat, but reluctantly nodded as well. Beta smiled, humming a low sound of agreement. Omega grinned and gave a thumbs up. Delta merely looked ahead at the wall and slowly nodded, trying not to make her excitement obvious. 

“Very good.” the professor smiled. “You six are quite remarkable. So kind-hearted and friendly, and yet there are still people who believe I created you to make weapons.” He chuckled a bit. “I suppose there will always be people out there like that, pushing others down because they can’t accept their miserable lives.” He paused for a moment, then glanced at the clock. “Anyways, I'd better be off. Class starts soon, so hurry up and finish your meals. Omega, it’s your turn for testing today, so hurry up and finish so you can join us in the lab.”

Omega groaned. Even though everyone in the flock was used to the constant experiments, it didn’t make it any less awful.

“I’d better get going then.” Crabbe sighed, turning around to leave the room. “Behave yourselves. I don’t want to hear about any more fighting today. Remember, you're setting an example for our new student, so make sure to be a positive one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, critizism and advice are always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this chapter was kinda difficult for me to get down. Namely bc I've already written this chapter multiple times in some for or another. The good news is I knew what I wanted to include in the scene, the bad news is I had no motivation to write it for a while. :/
> 
> ANYways, here's chapter 3! Next chapter might also be slow getting out since I've got two other fics I'm working on bc I have no sense of self control when it comes to writing things.
> 
> OH ALSO this fic is now beta-read! Shoutout to Max, Trinity, and Marki for beta-ing this chapter and also for just being really cool. *finger-guns*

"I'll need one more blood sample before we can finish."

Ash squeezed his eyes shut, digging his fingernails into the sticky plastic sheets of the exam table. The whitecoat lady approached him, pressing a hand against his shoulder and began rubbing something cool on his skin. "Hold still please." She said as the needle pierced his skin. He winced and held his breath.

"There. All done." The whitecoat lady rubbed the bandage in place, plain beige latex standing out against a large purplish bruise he'd gotten during testing ( _stupid tiny maze_ …). Ash hugged his arm tightly, tugging at the thin hospital gown. 

Most of the whitecoat people were gone now. There were more when he first woke up in this place, busily zipping around from place to place - like they were a bunch of bees going back and forth between flowers in a garden, and Ash was the prettiest flower in the bunch. But the whitecoats weren't making sticky sweet honey, they were poking holes in him and making him run on a treadmill for what seemed like hours and hours. His head was spinning and every single part of his body felt like it was hit by a ton of lead bricks,. He wanted to cry so bad, but he forced himself to keep it in. If he cried, his flames would start again, and when he let his flames go off earlier a whitecoat had sprayed his arms with a fire extinguisher. It made his hands and eyes sting real bad, and he had to wash them out in a sink. So instead of crying, he curled his wings around himself, as if it would make him disappear.

_I wanna go home…_

It was bad enough that Ash was at the School, the most dangerous place on the planet according to his mom. But what made it even worse was that it was all his fault. He was the one who failed the escape plan. His mother had been teaching it to him since he was little, so he should have been able to do it perfectly. But somehow he messed it all up.

_Mom's gonna be so pissed at me when I get home. Ash thought miserably. I messed everything up. As soon as she gets me out of here, she'll ground me until I'm 65. Or maybe she'll just leave me here forever._ He didn't want to think that last one. He wanted his mom to take him home and hug him and tell him everything would be alright. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset with him.

"Good afternoon, Sigma." 

Ash snapped out of his thoughts, eyes frantically darting around the room. A man was standing in the doorway. _Another whitecoat_ , Ash realized, noticing the lab coat he wore. The man took a step forward, directly standing in front of the young winged boy. He held his hand out for a shake.  
"My name is Professor Crabbe. I'm the director here."

Ash looked at the hand warily. He shrunk back, sliding further away from the whitecoat.

The man - Crabbe - sighed and shook his head. "Your mother taught you manners, right? The polite thing to do when meeting someone new is to shake hands. Like this:" He took Ash's right hand with his left and firmly shook it. "There we go. Now tell me," he let go and pulled up a chair next to the table to sit down, "how are you feeling?"

Ash squirmed. He didn't really want to talk to this guy, especially if he worked for the School. But maybe it was another test, like when a whitecoat had asked him math questions and riddles earlier. (She hadn't liked any of Ash's answers, even if he thought "I don't know" was a perfectly acceptable answer to problems with big words like exponential and quadratic, because he _really didn't know_ what any of those meant). 

"It's alright. You can talk to me." Crabbe said after Ash had been silent for a while. "I'm sure you must be very tired and frightened after all you've been through, but everything's going to be fine from now on. I heard you did very well during your initial tests, so here:" he dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie, sealed in clear packaging, and held it out for the boy to take.

A part of Ash felt he should resist, but the loud growling noises in his stomach said otherwise. The whitecoats had only given him juice in between tests. Ash liked juice, but not the gross fruit punch flavor they gave him. (They said it was the only kind of juice they had, which he knew was a lie. He could see a box of grape juice in the cupboard they got the food from). After so much running and testing the idea of any food at all sounded so good to Ash, and he couldn't help uncurling just slightly to grab the cookie from Crabbe's hands. He fumbled with the wrapper for a few minutes before finally making a tear, freeing the cookie from its plastic prison. He paused before taking a bite. _What if it’s poisoned?_ He lowered it to his lap, inspecting the cookie from all angles. What did poison look like? Could you even see it?

The whitecoat laughed. “It’s perfectly safe, I assure you. I wouldn’t punish you for working so hard today.”

_That’s exactly what someone who poisoned it would say_ … Still, he was pretty hungry, and the cookie looked tempting. Ash chewed his lip in thought for a moment or two, before he decided to risk it and take a huge bite. It didn’t taste poisoned. It was actually pretty good - not as good as the cookies Uncle Kyle made, but still pretty good. He took another bite, less hesitant this time.

"I'm glad you like it." Crabbe said. He folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Have the professors been treating you well, Sigma?"

_There's that name again…_ Ash swallowed another bite, wiping stray crumbs from his face. "Um...what does that word mean? Sig-mah? Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"It's your birth name, and the name you'll be going by here." The whitecoat promptly responded. 

Ash went still for a moment, staring at the man in confusion. "But I already have a name!" Two names, actually. There was the one he was born with: Silas Daniel Marshall. But that name was stupid, so he asked his mom if he could pick a new one, like his cousin Pess. She had to approve of whatever name he chose, of course, so unfortunately he couldn't go with his first option of ‘Fire Lord Red Sizzle’. But now that he thought about it, ‘Ash’ was a way better name than that, and it was certainly better than whatever the heck ‘Sigma’ was. “Why do I hafta use that one if I've already got a name?”

Crabbe pushed his glasses upwards. "As I said, it is your real name. Sigma is the name we chose for you, and now that you are here again, you'll start using it." Before Ash could protest again, the whitecoat cut him off. "You've noticed the mark on the back of your neck, right?"

Of course he had. Ash couldn't remember a time when he wasn't aware of the strange sideways M tattooed in black on his neck. Both he and his cousins had a mark there too, though they looked very different. He'd asked his mom about it, and she got very quiet and told him it was something she'd tell him later. But later never seemed to come. 

"That mark right there," Crabbe continued as Ash lightly traced over it with his fingers, "is the greek letter sigma. We gave you that marking when you were born so we could find you if you were ever lost. Naturally, we also named you after it."

Oh. _That’s probably why mom never told me about it._ "That's dumb…" Ash mumbled. "Can't I just keep my old name?"

Crabbe shook his head, glasses sliding a little with the sudden movement. "I'm afraid not. Now that you're back here, you won't be leaving. We don't want you getting your hopes up by thinking about the outside world again."

Ash froze, heart pounding loudly in his ears. Everything was spinning. The words echoed in his head.

_"Now that you're back here, you won't be leaving."_

_"You won't be leaving."_

_"You_

_Won't_

_Be_

_Leaving."_

Ash knew the School was a dangerous place. They wanted to lock him up forever and ever in a cage. He knew that...and yet somehow, when Crabbe said out loud, it all seemed so much more real. Fresh tears formed in his eyes. His wings tensed and he began shaking all over. _I don’t wanna stay here forever._ Every day, doing those tests with the evil white coat people, never being able to go outside, and never being able to see his mom or his uncles or his cousins again. Fear rose in his chest. He felt like he was burning alive.

He was burning alive, actually. He'd accidentally created flames around his hands, burning what was left of the cookie to an ashy crisp. Ash panicked, frantically looking for something to put it out. Someone grabbed his shoulder, and he almost screamed- only to realize it was Professor Crabbe. He was standing up now, directly in front of him with his hand on Ash’s shoulder. The young boy shrank away, but the whitecoat followed, letting go and lightly circling his fingers around the flames in fascination. 

"Remarkable..." He muttered softly. “How long have you been able to control your powers?”

Ash pulled his arms away, scooting as far back as he could without falling off the exam table. “Let me go! I wanna go home!”

Crabbe frowned. “This _is_ your home, Sigma. Listen, I-”

“Stop it! Stop calling me that!” Ash screamed. He clamped his hands over his ears, despite the fire still burning brightly on them. His skin didn’t burn as easily as others’; the flames only made his face sting with heat, which wasn’t exactly comfortable, but he didn’t care. “My name’s not Sigma!”

“Just calm down.”

“No! I wanna go home! I want my mom!”

“Silence!”

The professor’s cold words matched with his suddenly fierce glare sent a chill down Ash’s spine. The flames around his hands dimmed until they were barely more than a flicker of orange light at the sides of his face. Crabbe crouched down, locking eyes with him.

“Listen to me very carefully, _Sigma_.” He put a sharp emphasis on each syllable of the name. “This School...this is your home. It is where you belong. I’m sure Julianne taught you many lies about this place, but you have to ignore them. She was trying to corrupt you, turn you against your true family, but we won't let her do that anymore.

"Do you realize how powerful you are, Sigma? The outside world might think of you as a dangerous threat that needs to be destroyed. You are special, and special beings are treated poorly by ordinary people. But I won't. I'll make sure you are given the care and training you deserve here. I will take care of you now. The people here are your real family, and we will protect you. But you have to cooperate. Does that sound good, Sigma?"

_“Special beings are treated poorly”?_ Ash wasn’t sure what to think of that. Sure, there were some movies and TV shows where the superheroes got really hurt and had to fight even if they didn’t want to. But...weren’t there good people too? Didn’t heroes have friends? And what about his mom? Ash knew his mom loved him a whole lot, even if she got angry when he messed up.

But what if...what if he’d messed up too far this time? What if she was so angry at him for ruining the plan by getting caught that she wouldn’t come after him? That...that wouldn’t happen right? He didn’t want to stay here forever, locked in a cage. His mom would come save him, it would just take a couple days. 

Unless…

“I said, Sigma,” the professor repeated, “does that sound good.”

Ash felt his stomach churn, and his wings began shaking. The tears started again, leaving a sting on his cheeks. “I…” He bowed his head. “Okay…”

Crabbe smiled. “Good.” He wiped away Ash’s tears with his thumb. “Now then, Sigma, let’s go meet the others, shall we?” He took the boy’s arm and pulled him to his feet. 

Ash obeyed. He felt tired and scared and numb all over. He wanted to run away, with all his might, but it would do nothing. They’d probably just catch him again. All he could do was hope; hope that his mother might come after him, because she just _had_ to.

Until then, he would be Sigma.

He just hoped he wouldn’t have to be Sigma for very long.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to follow weekly updates and whatnot, you can follow my writblr @/blinkywritesstuffsometimes
> 
> If you have any criticism or comments, please let me know so I can improve.


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